


Invisible

by ZXSpectrum



Series: 100 Themes Challenge (DAS) [13]
Category: Thief (Video Games)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:26:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24164347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZXSpectrum/pseuds/ZXSpectrum
Summary: A lone guard is patrolling a mansion, when he notices something odd...
Series: 100 Themes Challenge (DAS) [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/39068
Kudos: 4





	Invisible

Late at night, with the lords gone out and most of the servants asleep, a guard roamed through the hallway of a large mansion. As he did nearly every night, always the same halls, always the same path. He didn’t mind the repetition, this was his job after all, and it was the kind where monotony was a very good thing.

Three months ago, he worked at a different place. There, the monotony was broken, which left him with a nasty headache and without a job, as his employer couldn’t pay him anymore, since lots of his money was gone the next day. It was very likely that the cause for the headache was also the reason for the vanishing money.

So, the guard was glad that he found new employ pretty soon. And that he could resume his usual activities, walking through the mansion, always on the lookout for something that’s amiss, which was rare, fortunately. Of course, it would be easier to do so, if the torches on the walls would work properly. Like the two on the top of the staircase he just passed. Only ten minutes ago, they still burned brightly. Stupid, unreliable torches, just going out as if they enjoyed being a bother.

…Actually, why did he think that? The guard couldn’t recall having ever seen a torch just go from burning to going out so fast. And yet, he felt compelled to think that it did it on its own. Come to think of it, something like that happened at his old workplace too, that was the same night as…

Oh no.

Some might have called him paranoid, but the guard had a really bad feeling about this. Going off his path, he slowly peeked inside a nearby room. He couldn’t see anything suspicious. That was because he could barely see anything at all, the room was completely dark. The guard was pretty sure that there was always a light supposed to be burning in every room for security reasons.

Searching the room carefully (not that he had a choice in the dark), he noticed that the ring on the nightstand beside the bed was gone. As were the valuable candlesticks on top of the fireplace. The locked chest nearby opened easily, its contents missing.

Everything was as he feared. Drawing his sword, he searched through several more rooms and hallways. The experience was always the same. Several lights were out, at least the ones that could be easily extinguished, candles, torches and such, and anything of value was snatched away. Worst of all, he never encountered any other person, no servants, no other guards. As if the intruder, a most skillful thief, surely, had whisked them all away.

If only he at least came across their knocked-out bodies. Hopefully knocked-out. Murder was impractical when it came to thievery, but one could never know. It’s very well possible that this thug, in addition to being greedy, had also quite some bloodlust in him. You couldn’t trust a thief to have a strong moral compass, after all.

The guard looked through the entire mansion and didn’t see anyone or anything. Some people, after they’ve been successfully robbed, said that they saw a shadow move here and there, but he didn’t see even that. Nor did he hear a single suspicious sound. Even unsuspicious sounds were nearly entirely absent and mostly just came from him.

It was as if the intruder was a ghost. But then, a ghost probably wouldn’t have much interest in valuables. Any random valuables, anyway.

Afterwards, he left the mansion through the front doors. Normally, he wasn’t allowed to stray from his route that far, but this was the kind of situation where it was more than justified. Besides, reprimands by his employer was the last thing he feared right now.

Everything outside looked normal. But then, there probably wasn’t a need to put anything out of order, since… well, it wasn’t designed for keeping intruders out. Several lanterns burned brightly along the paths that cut through a garden, but the garden itself was pretty dark, with only few lights peppered here and there. Coupled with its sheer size and even an amateur could easily hide in there and sneak up on the mansion. At least, until they arrived at the immediate surroundings, that were well-illuminated. Still, it clearly wasn’t enough of a hindrance for someone.

The guard’s eyes peered out to a shed in the garden. Or rather, its general direction, as he couldn’t actually see it. Its purpose was to store the gardening tools and, to not be an eyesore, it was placed far on the edge of the plot. There weren’t really any lights surrounding it, making it invisible in the dark, unless you got very close. It was an ideal location for… certain things.

He had a very bad feeling. A very, _very_ bad feeling.

Part of him wanted to go inside again and pretend that nothing happened. Seeing as everyone else was gone, it seemed like he was spared from… whatever the intruder did with them. With any luck, his shift might pass without anything happening. To him that is.

And yet, his feet carried him deeper into the garden, to the small structure at its outskirts. He gripped his sword tighter, as the shed came into view. It looked so boring during the day, but now seemed very ominous. The dark wood planks, so plain normally, now felt downright threatening.

Slowly, the guard gripped the knob of the door and opened it. Inside, it was completely dark, making him unable to see anything that wasn’t right in front of his eyes. One step at a time, he went inside, looking around worriedly, but unable to see anything. Or hear anything, as the only sounds were his footsteps on the wooden floor.

His anxiety turned into relief as he was halfway inside. While he couldn’t say for sure in the darkness, it didn’t seem like anything was here. Until the tip of his foot hit something. Immediately, he tensed up, remaining still for a few seconds. Then, he looked down. There was something on the ground. He thought it looked like a… No, it was too dark to say for sure and he didn’t really want to know anyway. He should just turn around and leave.

And yet, he didn’t. Instead, he cowered down, his eyes fixed on the thing on the ground. Now that he could see it more clearly, there was no doubt anymore: It was a body. The body of one of the other guards. He couldn’t tell whether he was alive, if there was blood, it’s impossible to see.

However, he did see something else: An arm over his legs. The arm of another body that lay beside him. At this moment, he knew that he had to run away, to leave the shed. And so, he really couldn’t understand why he examined it more, looking and feeling around, searching the ground. There were several more bodies, of guards and servants, possibly all of them. Lying seemingly lifeless on the wooden floor.

Finally, as if he gotten back control of his body, he stood up again and turned to leave. However, shortly after, when he just took a single step towards the door, he felt a dull pain at the back of his head. And then nothing at all anymore.

* * *

Late at night, when the City was mostly empty and most of the citizens were asleep at home, an officer of the City Watch roamed through the streets of his assigned district. As he did nearly every night, always the same streets, always the same path. He loved the monotony.

Only a month ago, he was a guard at a large mansion. It hadn’t been a bad job overall, but a certain incident, that left him with a nasty headache, coupled with the fact that it was the second time that happened, rather soured him on it. It could have been worse, really. Ultimately, no one was seriously hurt and while lots of money was stolen, it wasn’t enough that it would force his employer to fire him. But still, he was done.

That’s why he joined the City Watch as an officer. It wasn’t too different of a job, really, but it was very unlikely to cause incidents like the ones he experienced two times in only three months.

And so, he made his rounds this night again, watching out if something was out of order, if some shady person was out at this late hour. Of course, it would be easier to do so, if the torches on the walls would work properly. Like the one on the intersection he just passed. Only ten minutes ago, it still burned brightly. Stupid, unreliable torches, just going out as if they enjoyed being a bother.

The officer halted in his tracks. And while he pondered the fact that he hasn’t encountered another officer, whose patrol route crossed with his own, since a while, he wondered if he shouldn’t become a carpenter instead…

**Author's Note:**

> I'm currently playing the Thief games quite a bit (minus the... thing that was released in 2014) and with the prompt being so fitting for it, it didn't take long for this fic to pop into my mind.


End file.
